Giving up on her dream of becoming her family’s first university graduate has never been an option for 18-year-old Atenkosi Mzilikazi, even if it means selling ice in the scorching summer heat or knocking on doors asking strangers for R10.
Mzilikazi, a first-year student at the University of Cape Town (UCT), is one of thousands facing financial exclusion at the institution, where gross student debt exceeded R1bn as of December 31 2025, according to the university.
From Amalinda in East London in the Eastern Cape, Mzilikazi owes UCT about R130,000 and is currently under a fee block because her debt exceeds R10,000, preventing her from registering, accessing her results, or applying for further funding.
“I enrolled last year for a Bachelor of Social Science, majoring in sociology and African feminist studies. But at the end of the year, I couldn’t get my results because I owed fees. If you owe more than R10,000, the university blocks you from registering. I can’t even apply for a bursary because I haven’t seen my results,” she said.
She received partial funding through her father’s workplace bursary, but it was not enough to cover her full costs.
“I applied for NSFAS (National Student Financial Aid Scheme) thinking it would come through,” she said. “But I was later advised by the head of finances at UCT to take a gap year because my application had gone missing from the system.”
That, she said, was not an option.
“I want to make my family proud. I have three siblings, and I’m the third-born. We were raised by our unemployed mother. My two older siblings couldn’t continue with their studies because there was no money.”
She watched her mother struggle to keep food on the table and clothes on their backs, a reality that fuels her determination.
Though her father later managed to secure her a workplace bursary, the shortfall left her scrambling to raise funds on her own.
“I’ve been selling ice in my neighbourhood and going door to door asking for R10 donations. My community has been incredibly supportive; some people even gave more. I also started a BackaBuddy campaign, and so far I’ve managed to raise R20,000,” she said.
She began fundraising in December, she said, but not everyone believed her story.
“Some people thought I just wanted money for the festive season,” she said. “But others really listened and helped.”
Financial exclusion ‘widespread and worsening’
The South African Union of Students (SAUS) says Mzilikazi’s struggle reflects a national crisis.
SAUS spokesperson Thato Masekoa said tens of thousands of students across universities and TVET colleges are academically excluded, financially blocked from registration, or forced into prolonged study periods due to unpaid debt.
“This crisis is deepening, not stabilising. Rising tuition, accommodation shortages, inflation-driven food costs, and stagnant or shrinking state support have pushed students into deeper precarity,” Masekoa said.
He said that for working-class and poor students, higher education increasingly resembles a revolving door rather than a pathway to social mobility.
Masekoa said the fee debt is directly undermining student completion.
“Students with historical debt are routinely denied registration, access to results or graduation clearance,” he said.
“Many attend classes without textbooks, adequate meals or stable housing, with predictable consequences for performance and mental health.”
Others, he added, drop out just before completing their qualifications, wasting years of public and personal investment.
NSFAS failures and the ‘missing middle’
Masekoa said while NSFAS remains a critical intervention, it is failing structurally and operationally.
“Late payments, incorrect allowances, accommodation accreditation bottlenecks and arbitrary defunding have left students stranded,” he said. “This shows up as hunger, evictions, disrupted learning and constant protests.”
When students are compelled to sell food, work informal jobs or crowdfund tuition just to remain registered, it signals a profound failure of the state’s constitutional obligation,” he said. “This is not resilience, it is abandonment
— SAUS spokesperson Thato Masekoa
He raised particular concern about students in the so-called “missing middle”, families earning just above the NSFAS threshold.
“They receive little to no state support, yet cannot afford escalating university costs,” he said.
“Many survive through debt, informal labour or prolonged study, often falling through the cracks entirely.”
Masekoa said the normalisation of student fundraising is an indictment of the system.
“When students are compelled to sell food, work informal jobs or crowdfund tuition just to remain registered, it signals a profound failure of the state’s constitutional obligation,” he said. “This is not resilience, it is abandonment.”
UCT response
UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said university policy allows students with debt below R10,000 to register, a measure that enabled about 4,000 students to register in 2025.
UCT had also implemented additional support measures following engagements with the Student Representative Council (SRC).
“These include internal UCT bursaries and donor funding, which in 2025 benefited about 1,300 eligible students with debts over R10,000,” Moholola said.
He added that fee relief for NSFAS-eligible students benefited 1,100 students, while loan agreements and SRC assistance funding, including Afrifund, were also available.
Calls for urgent reform
SAUS said urgent changes are non-negotiable.
It called on the government to:
- Clear historical student debt;
- Expand and reform NSFAS to cover the real cost of study; and
- Introduce a fully funded public model for the missing middle.
Universities, SAUS said, must:
- End financially driven exclusions;
- Decouple academic progression from fee debt; and
- Prioritise student welfare over balance sheets.
“Financial exclusion is a political choice. Until it is addressed decisively, higher education will continue to reproduce inequality rather than dismantle it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mzilikazi remains resolute.
“I’m pushing as hard as I can,” she said. “I just want to make my family proud.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.